Whole Foods Bears Fruit With Palisade Peach Display Contest

Last year, the Colorado Division of Whole Foods approached Palisade's Tourism Advisory Board with a contest idea. Whole Foods was interested in doing a sweepstakes on the Front Range to promote Palisade.

The promotion would feature Palisade as an area:

The Contest would be in all Whole Foods Store locations on the Front Range.The contest would take place while Palisade Peaches were in the stores.

Each store would come up with its own display, and that the store with the best display promoting Palisade would get to send its marketing team to Palisade for a weekend, and get to stay at the Wine Country Inn.

The contest has born some fruit not just for Palisade in the form of publicity, but for Whole Foods, as well. Since July 31, the Front Range stores have sold over $250,000 of local Colorado peaches!

So congrats to all the Whole Foods produce departments who are finalists in the display contest. Here are their displays:



The Cherry Creek store.



The Colfax store.



The brand new Southglenn store.

Customers were also allowed to enter the sweepstakes, with winner being drawn September 1 for a weekend getaway to Palisade.

Partners Drive Trailer-full of Palisade Peaches to Kansas

How far would you drive for a Palisade Peach? How about all the way from Kansas? And how many would you buy at one time? Maybe a flat or a box for the back seat of your car. A couple of business partners from Kansas drive 10 to 12 hours to get their Palisade Peaches, only the duo buys a trailer full at a time.

The Hays Daily News reports that Doug Berland and Linus Pfannenstiel go the extra mile for their peach fix. Under the headline, "Side Business Just Peachy for Hays Couples," Daily News Reporter Diane Gasper -O'Brien writes:

"Mention the phrase 'Colorado peaches,' and a lot of people's eyes light up.

"That's what two area couples were counting on when they decided to bring back from Colorado a trailerload of peaches and other fruit two summers ago.

"Now, Doug Berland from Hays and Linus Pfannenstiel from Damar make at least two trips a summer to Palisade, Colo., in the west-central part of the state near the Utah border and return with a trailer full of fresh fruit.

"Pfannenstiel and his wife, Debbie, own the Bingo Haus in Hays and got the idea to visit a Colorado orchard from one of their former longtime bingo players."

You can read about these dedicated peach fans here.

Palisade Couple Retiring from Peach Business

Sometimes the Internet works in funny, global ways. This is a story originally filed by KKCO NBC11. But it was picked up by freshplaza.com, a fresh produce web site based in the Netherlands, probably through an RSS feed. Anyway, NBC 11 writes that, after a lifetime of hard work:

"Bonnie and Leroy Ball of Ball Fruit are retiring and selling their orchard. 11 News Reporter Jessica Zartler has more on their last harvest. Bonnie Ball says she's always loved watching the peaches grow. It's how she measures the seasons.

"'I'll be sad in a lot of ways but just because it has been such a good life,"'she told 11 News on Wednesday. She and her husband, Leroy, have built a life on the Palisade fruit. They have spent a lot of time and sweat growing each tree. The same care the ball's take with their orchard, they take with their customers. It is after all Bonnie's favorite part of spending 61 years at the Ball's fruit stand.

"Thats the thing I'll miss the most, the people that come in and visit with me," said Ball. She and her husband have been married for 58 years and she knew when she married Leroy, she was marrying the orchard. "Leroy was born into it, in the house right across the street. It's in his blood."

You can read the rest of the transcript here.

Thank you, Bonnie and Leroy. Ball Fruit will be missed.

Z's Peaches in the Business Spotlight

Bob Kretschman's been busy. First he wrote up the hotel, then he swung by Z's Orchard to interview Palisade Peach grower Carol Zadrozny for Colorado Biz Magazine.

Under the headline, "State of the State: Agriculture, Education, Energy and By the Numbers" with the subtitle, "Agriculture: Peach crop plump, sweet — and pricey," Bob wrote:

"Colorado’s peach crop took its time this year, with fruit growing plump and flavorful thanks to an unusually long, cool spring.

"Although fruit is ripening 10 to 14 days later than normal, growers say the crop is one of the best in years.

'The peaches are late, but everything is coming off superb. Flavor and size are just awesome,' said Carol Zadrozny, owner of Z's Orchard in Palisade.

You can read the rest of the article here.

Perfect Palisade Peach Pie From The Highland Foodie

Susan Stone, the Highland Foodie critic for the Sky-Hi Daily News, says there's no better Peach pie than starting with the raw ingredients from Palisade. Stone writes:

"Wait, did I say peaches, my all-time favorite fruit? Yes, indeed. They arrive at the farmers market in August and continue into September from organic orchards in Paonia and Palisade brought in by old man DeVries and the ever-present Forté clan. And the peaches are so incredibly delicious.

"I’m contemplating a trip to Palisade to buy a box of my favorite peach variety - the Elberta. This ancient peach is full, lush and delicate - it doesn’t travel well, so it’s appearance at markets is rare. But it is the one peach worth driving for, even with high gasoline prices."

You can read the article here.

Here's Stone's perfect peach pie recipe: "Here is the best peach pie we made:
Put 1 1/4 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 cup butter and 2 tablespoons sour cream into a Cuisinart and blend until they form a ball. Pat out into a buttered pie tin, and bake 10 minutes at 425 degrees.

Beat 3 egg yolks slightly and combine with 1 cup sugar, 2 teaspoons flour and 1/3 cup sour cream. Pour over 3 peeled, sliced peaches arranged in the crust. Cover with foil. Reduce the oven to 350 degrees and bake 35 minutes. Remove the foil and bake 10 minutes more, or until the filling is set.”

Stone is quoting in turn from Nora Ephron's novel “Heartburn.” But the key, of course, is in those Palisade Elberta peaches...

Recipe Writer Says, 'Grill Some Palisade Peaches for DNC'

This is a three-peat of sorts. Coloradans, wishing to serve delegates of the Democratic National Convention, the best of the best that Colorado has to offer, keep returning to Palisade Peaches. This is our third post mentioning this peachy suggestion. It simply makes sense. The peaches are at the height of their season at the same time as the DNC. And Democrat or Republican, Independent or Libertarian, we Coloradans want to show off the best of our state while the world has us in the spotlight.

So it's no great surprise when we unearthed this story in the National Food Examiner, "Celebrate the DNC with Grilled Colorado Peaches." Denver Food Examiner Andrea Spikes gets the credit for starting this trend all the way back on July 30. Here is her peach recipe:

"Once you have these succulent stone fruits on hand, here's an easy way to grill them. They will pair nicely with some vanilla ice cream and maybe even a drizzle of orange liqueur.

Grilled Colorado Peach
1 small peach (ripe but still fairly firm)

1. Preheat grill to medium-hot.

2. Cut peach in half, remove pit and brush lightly with vegetable oil.

3. Grill skin-side up for 4 minutes. Turn over and grill skin-side down for 3-4 minutes. Fruit is done when it is marked on the exterior, just barely softened and heated through in the center."

DNC Swag Bags Should Include Enstrom's Toffee, Palisade Peaches

It's a staple of the Oscars, the Emmys, and dozens of other award shows -- a swag bag, that fabled sack of giveaway gifts handed out to celebrities. But what should delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Denver get in their swag bags? Under the headline, "The Colorado Swag Bag You Wished You Had - Part 2," Denver NBC Affiliate 9 News KUSA urges DNC-goers to be showered with a variety of Grand Valley gourmet food, namely Palisade Peaches and Enstrom's Almond Toffee. To read the transcript and see the video, click here.

Besides Enstrom's gooey confectionary treats, 9 News specifically mentions the produce of High Country Orchards in Palisade, who have family-owned and operated orchards, vineyards and gardens.

Palisade Peaches Mentioned on NPR

Palisade peaches got an International mention this morning on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered." The story was about five things Democratic National Convention delegates should do while in Denver (but probably won't). One of the promoted choices: Go on an agritourism trip and eat a Palisade Peach or a Rocky Ford Melon. You can catch the story here, but you'll have to listen to the piece, Palisade is not mentioned in the transcript:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93771965

Who knows, maybe a central plank of the DNC 2008 will be, Eat More Palisade Peaches!